Cat Eyes
by Kaestu
Summary: Tree of Tranquility: The wild animals on Waffle Island have minds of their own! When Toby acquires a new feline friend, his life starts to change...Story from the cat's POV. Better summary coming soon...maybe.
1. Chapter 1

_Oh please, dear God, no_. I looked up at the sky, watching the thick black clouds intently. The chill wind was blowing against me relentlessly, and I tried to curl up tightly to contain any body heat I had left. My nose was especially sore from this bitter weather, and I was sure it would fall clean off my face at any second. I knew for a fact that storm clouds at temperatures this cold definitely did not mean rain.

To put it bluntly: It was freakin' cold out. I slowly made my way over to Ben's Tree, hoping it would provide at least a little bit of warmth. Fall was almost over now. I could tell from watching the people walking back and forth. Just the other day, that strange purple-haired fellow walked by with bags of gold and silver, and the blonde kid with the headband was hauling a back-breaking amount of furniture down the path. I knew it was for…oh, what do the humans call it? The Flea Mart? All I know is that it contained "flea". I never bothered to check it out because, well, that dim-witted dog down at the lighthouse gave me fleas once, and let me tell you, it was not a fun time. Why on Earth humans like to go out and celebrate the great wonder of fleas is beyond me.

I've also noticed how when it gets cold, less and less people want to go outside, and before you know it, hardly anybody walks by at all. It makes me feel a bit lonely, but I guess hardly anyone ever talks to me anyways. I pawed lightly at the lovely blue flower beside me, wondering how on Earth it managed to survive year-round.

As I was pondering, I heard the soft sound of footsteps crinkling the frozen grass. No humans had passed by me yet that day, so I knew it was quite early in the morning, and most likely no one was up yet. As the footsteps drew nearer, I noticed a black figure appear from the horizon which looked at me with bright yellow eyes. I grinned, recognizing the figure immediately.

"Daisy!" he said, walking up to me. "You don't look so hot."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, so I've missed a few catnaps. What're you up to Felix?" I asked him. Felix made his home near the river, and he was like a brother to me. A very scrawny, black-haired brother.

"It's getting so cold out, I can't take it anymore." He shuddered, his tail puffing up a little.

"Yeah, you're right. And look at those clouds. It's going to snow, and it's not even Winter yet!"

He laughed. "You know, Daze, there's a ship leaving soon for Toucan Island, that place where it's always warm. I'm gonna go sneak on board and hitch a ride. I mean, anything must be better than this cold." He looked at me intently. "You should come too."

I shrugged. I knew Felix was probably right, and I knew I hated the cold more than anything, but I wasn't sure if I truly wanted to leave the island. The lake, which the humans dubbed "Maple Lake", was where I lived and, as ridiculous as it sounds, it meant too much to me to leave it that easily.

Felix found the doubt in my eyes. "Gee, Daze, how can you not know? I mean, I think the right decision is so obvious. But hey, it's your tail, so I guess you make the choice of freezing it off or not."

"Hey, come on, Felix. There will be like a million more chances for me to go to Toucan Island if I ever wanted to. The boat runs all the time."

Felix pondered on this fact for a little bit. "Ok fine, I guess you're right."

To my unpleasant surprise, I spotted a small white speck land on the top of Felix's head. He seemed to notice too, since we both looked up to the sky at the same time. The clouds had begun to spill out its wintry flakes.

"Yikes!" exclaimed Felix. He looked at me and grinned. "I'm outta here!" He turned around and ran towards the town. After a few seconds, he stopped and shouted "Hope you change your mind soon!" I nodded, and before I knew it, he was gone.

As I sat there stiff, staring blankly at the now empty space in front of me, I began to realize that I was frozen. The snow began accumulating all around me, and if I stayed there long enough, I would have been dubbed the first snowcat of the season. I shook the powder off of my body and lightly treaded over to the lake. I peered into the water, but all I saw was the face of a freezing, distressed catsicle. No fish were stupid enough to come up to the surface in this kind of weather. I sighed and went back over to Ben's Tree in an attempt to hide from the snow. Winter was going to be tough again this year, and the fact the cold front arrived so early didn't help in comforting me. I curled into a tight ball and quickly fell asleep from cold and exhaustion…

_Bang!_ Click. My ears perked up at the sound, which sounded like it came from the house positioned right beside me. My theory was confirmed when a young man with silver hair and a straw hat came walking from the house. He looked up at the sky through his perpetually closed eyes. One hand was brought up to his forehead to help him get a better look, while the other hand was holding a fishing pole. I watched him lazily as he walked over to the small deck stretching out to the center of the lake, and sat upon it. He gripped his fishing pole tight with both hands and casted it into the water.

Desperate for company, and maybe even a little warmth, I slowly treaded over to him. I plopped down behind him at a comfortable distance and watched. It wasn't after what seemed like hours of watching him do nothing but sit there staring at the lake, not even blinking an eye, (though, I'm not sure how that would work, since he's basically always blinking. Does he even blink?) that I began to realize that he was boring. Sure, maybe someone who does nothing but clean herself and sleep all day shouldn't be talking about how boring someone is. Still, I began to wish I never woke up from my nap and wasted my time with this guy.

People were beginning to walk down the path, which signaled to me that the day was starting. At one point, a girl with a blonde-haired ponytail walked by where we were sitting. She flicked her green eyes over to us.

"Toby, Ozzie is pretty distressed. You should probably get over to On the Hook before he comes looking for you again. You remember what happened _last time_…" her voice trailed off, and she continued her walk towards the mines.

Toby sighed and forced himself to his feet. He pulled his fishing line out of the water, and I was amazed at the sight. There was a fish at the end of the hook. I did not notice when the fish got on there, but from what I read on his face, he had known it was there for quite a while. I couldn't understand what on Earth he was thinking, if anything at all. He slowly turned himself around and immediately noticed me sitting there.

"Hello, kitty," he said, smiling. "Are you hungry?" I watched as he carefully removed the fish from his hook and placed it on the ground in front of me. "I'm not going to use it for anything. You can have it, kitty."

I felt elated at the kind gesture, and immediately gnawed hungrily at the fish. "Aren't fish the best?" I heard Toby ask me. "They're nature's greatest treasures…or something like that. Anyways, gotta get to work before Uncle Oz blows his top." He swung his fishing pole over his shoulder and started for the town.

I'm not sure whether it was the hope of free food or simply sheer boredom, but an unknown force compelled me to follow him, and soon enough, I was right at his heels.

------------------

Notes:

The internet suffers from a severe lack of Toby fics.

Crits/suggestions always welcome. It's my first fic ever, though, so...be gentle 8D

More on the way.


	2. Chapter 2

I never imagined running through town to be such a hard task, but the snow had made the tough pavement cold and slippery. Whenever I wasn't trying to keep my pawpads from splitting in two, I was trying to keep myself from sliding down the street and into the fence. Of course, the fence was so thin and rusted, I was sure it would break with even the slightest push. On the other hand, Toby seemed either completely unaware or completely indifferent to his surroundings. He kept on the path at his own pace, humming a tune, not even bothering to shake off the snowflakes collecting in his hair. I couldn't help but notice his straw hat hanging around his neck, sitting there untouched. The snow could have easily been collecting on that instead of his exposed head, but he didn't seem to want to put forth the effort of placing a hat on his head. Y'know, if he wasn't going to use it, I sure could've. Hey, with a few furnishings, you must admit it'd make a pretty sweet bed.

As I was thinking about the hat, I failed to notice Toby had stopped walking until it was too late. I ran right into the back of his legs and fell down onto my side. Toby looked down at me and gave a surprised look. "Hey, kitty, you followed me!" he said. Congratulations, genius, you figured it out. If I wasn't a cat, I'd clap for you. Toby turned away from me and towards an elderly man near the dock, who was leaning against a boat with a pipe in his hand.

"Where are you going, Pascal?" he asked.

Pascal smoked his pipe thoughtfully. "Oh, Toby, good morning. Just dropping some cargo off at Toucan Island." He patted the boat he was leaning on. "It's been a bit stormy lately, but I think she'll hold up."

The mention of Toucan Island made my ears perk as I remembered Felix, but the remainder of the conversation was nothing important, and I quickly grew bored of it. I yawned and sat down, waiting for them to finish. However, my bored disposition suddenly turned sour when I heard a familiar voice from behind me.

"Well, well. If it isn't Daisy."

I slowly turned my head around, and there it was. As snow was falling all around me, it looked as if the flakes had come together to form a terrible, annoying, ugly, smelly monster. However, I knew for a fact that it was just Raider, the only cat I knew whose voice made me want to off myself. He gave me a crooked grin, showing off his teeth, which matched the color of his coat. (If you ignored the patches of dirt and filth, that is. Or at least tried to ignore it, since it's pretty much impossible to literally ignore it. Did I mention he smelled? Bad?)

He stared at me with beaming blue eyes. "It's been far too long."

_Not long enough_, I thought. "What the hell do you want, Raider?"

"Oh! So cold! Colder than these chilling autumn nights!" He brought his paw up to his heart in a dramatic fashion. "Colder than the flakes that grace your beautiful whiskers." His grin grew wider.

I huffed at him. "Are you trying to make me barf? Because I think I just might. Even after all this time, I can't believe you're still the same drama queen." I glanced quickly at him. "And you smell like dead fish."

He just laughed at me. "Oh, Daisy, the more you try to push me away, the more I want to pull you in!" He scooted closer and closer to me, and for a second I thought I could feel the disgusting fishy fumes that were protruding off of every hair on his body. "Anyways, you didn't come here to go with Felix, did you?" he asked. "I'd miss you too much!"

I suddenly remembered Felix's plan, and how Pascal said the boat was headed for Toucan Island. "Felix is on that boat, isn't he?" I asked Raider.

Raider looked blankly over to the boat. "Well…I saw him get on it this morning. And since the boat hasn't gone anywhere…" He paused for a bit, as if it was hard to figure out. "Yeah, I guess he is on it." He looked at me with horror on his face. "I know what you're thinking. Don't do it! Toucan Island's so boring! There's nothing but trees and sand. And… sting rays."

"Have you even been to Toucan Island, Raider?"

He stuttered. "Well…I…errrr."

I sighed. "Nevermind. I didn't even come here for Felix, you know."

His face lit back up to his normal, freakishly annoying expression. "Really? Did you come here to see me?"

"No!" I shouted. I was definitely more annoyed at Raider than I should have been, but I didn't care. "I'm here because…" I looked over at Toby, who was still chatting with Pascal.

"Oh, something about Toby?" Raider glanced suspiciously at me. "Is he your owner or something?"

"No way! Owners are for the simple-minded." I looked over again and noticed that Toby was heading for the door, so, without giving Raider a second glance, I sprinted over to him. As he opened the door to let himself in, I sneaked in stealthily between his legs.

"Uncle, I'm here," Toby said, reluctantly leaning his fishing pole against the wall.

"It's about time. I was ready to go looking for you." I looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. A tall man came up to the counter, and I realized it must have been him. He had the same straw hat as Toby (except he actually _wore_ his) and the same perpetually closed eyes. I figured that if these two weren't related, then my name is Pippy the Chihuahua (and thank God it isn't). There was, however, something weird about the shape of his head. Something I just couldn't quite put my paw on…

Then he suddenly looked straight at me. Don't ask me how I knew this. I just _knew_. He lowered his eyebrows and frowned. "Toby, what's with the cat?" he asked, still looking at me.

Toby jumped a little when he saw me standing beside him. "Huh? What the…how the…?" He looked at his uncle frantically. "I didn't know!"

"Whatever, just get rid of it," he replied, waving me away. I twitched my tail in annoyance of being called 'it', and fought the strong urge to climb onto the counter and claw his eyes open.

Toby looked at me as if he didn't know what to do. After a while, he said "it's okay, Uncle Oz. I'll make sure she doesn't get into anything."

Ozzie sighed heavily. "You better!"

I was half-expecting Toby to tie me up on the spot, but he simply went to work as if I wasn't even there. He knelt down over a large fishing boat that was leaning against the corner of the room, examining it carefully. He began to speak softly while gently stroking the wood with his fingertips. "There's a few cracks in the bottom of it. That must be where the leak sprung." He looked up at Ozzie. "Uncle, I'm going to need some epoxy sealant, aluminum foil, and a hair dryer."

Ozzie stared at his nephew as if he had escaped from the nuthouse, and then suddenly shook his head. "Toby, you were late. I already called Dale's Carpentry to have them fix the boat for us. Maybe you'll remember to arrive to work on time from now on." He turned away to focus on something else, and I could tell he didn't trust his own words.

Toby looked at the boat silently for a moment. I would say he was in shock, except his face did not show any sign of disappointment or anger. I could bet he was off in some far away world, probably full of fish. He stood up slowly and walked but a few feet over to his uncle, who silently pointed to the shelf in front of them. Toby apparently knew what he meant, since he then kneeled down and began pulling out various documents and cans of fish food.

It took me a while to realize that both Toby and Ozzie had their backs turned to me. I could feel a devilish grin form on my face, and I decided now was the perfect time to look around. Unfortunately, at first glimpse, the shop was not very promising. The creaky wooden floor and poorly plastered walls provided no fruit for the eyes and, well, nothing I could scratch. A life ring sat against the wall near the counter and I, finding nothing better to do, tried pawing at its loose strings. It only made my boredom increase, and I wandered into a room off to the side of the shop. That's when I found myself straightening out my legs and standing taller than usual. The room contained 3 beds. Giant, fluffy, warm beds.

…_Warm!_

I leapt onto the bed closest to me. It lightly bounced under my weight, and I happily moved with it. I sunk my paws into the soft, flannel sheets, then my stomach, then my head…My whole body slowly melted into the fabric. It sure beat lying on razor sharp blades of frosty grass while being pelted by frozen rain. I suddenly wanted to fall asleep and dream the cold away. I never did go completely out, however, and I couldn't help but listen to the rustling of papers and soft footsteps coming from the next room.

Ozzie suddenly shouted. "Oh, woops, I almost forgot. Dale wanted the money for the boat today. I should go pay him before I completely forget. Toby, I need you to cover the register while I'm gone." I heard a loud 'ding!' and the sound of a drawer closing, and then noticed Ozzie leaving the shop with a handful of money. I didn't hear Toby say a thing.

There was a long silence, and I made an attempt to fall asleep. I was on the verge of blacking out when I heard a soft voice. "Kitty?" it said. I lazily lifted my ears. "Kitty, where did you go?" I recognized it as Toby's voice. I heard his footsteps come closer to me, and he peered around the corner of the room. His mouth curled up slightly when he saw me. He mumbled something about it being okay, and something about Pascal's bed, then left the room. After a while, I realized that I couldn't fall asleep. Silently cursing Toby for disturbing me, I dragged myself out of bed. Toby was sitting slumped at the register, his elbow resting upon the counter and his face resting upon his hand. I walked by him, but he didn't turn his head to look at me. _Probably in another trance_, I thought.

A bell ringed, and I looked over at the door. A young woman was shyly entering the shop, and I couldn't help but eyeball her. Her dress looked as if it was a pile of old rags that had been sewn together and she smelled like she had slept in a horse barn. She brushed back some brown hair that was hanging in her face and stepped up to the counter. She gave a smile at Toby, who hadn't moved from his position. When he said nothing to her, she gave soft "hello". Toby's head looked up at her slowly, and he moved his hand back down from his face. "Oh, hi R-" He stopped and gave a silent yawn. "Hi, Renee."

My God, he had been sleeping.

"I'm here to buy a fishing pole," said Renee, smiling shyly.

"I didn't know you fished," Toby said. He stood up and went over to stash of fishing poles that were kept under the counter. At that moment, I suddenly felt sharp pangs in my stomach. _Man, I'm hungry._ It wasn't long before I caught a whiff of something fishy, and I followed my nose to the source.

"Well," said Renee, "I'm not really very good at it. Just a side hobby, I suppose."

"You haven't really fished that much, right? Maybe you should start with a beginner's rod…" I heard the sound of something hit the counter. I didn't bother to turn around and see what it was, since I knew I was coming close to something delicious.

"Oh. They aren't too expensive, I hope."

"Nah, not the beginner rods. They're pretty cheaply made compared to the other ones. Still work great, though, so nothing to worry about."

I came across a giant tub made of various blue tiles. I stood up on my hind legs and stretched out as far as I could, and I managed to see over the top. _Eureka!_ I thought, grinning happily. It was full of water, and various types of fish were swimming around inside of it. I spotted a tasty-looking blue fish near the edge, and I stuck my paw in to try and get it.

"Oh, Toby, where are the best places to fish around here? I tried the ocean, but didn't catch many fish at all…"

The blue fish moved away from the side at the sight of my paw. Angrily, I splashed my arm around the water in hopes of catching something, anything.

"Well, my favorite place to go is Caramel Falls, but any place has…" He suddenly stopped talking. There was a temporary silence, save the sound of my splashing. I had my back turned to both of them, but I knew exactly where their eyes were.

"Kitty, no!" cried Toby. "Don't kill the fish!" He started to run over to me when I suddenly spotted a giant fish in the tub. The fish appeared to be after my paw, and he swam furiously towards it. When he was inches away from it, I became terrified that he would engulf my paw, and jumped back as quickly as I could. Unfortunately, the path behind me was not clear. I crashed right into Toby, who was unpleasantly surprised. Startled, he also took a jump back and struggled to keep on his feet. He ultimately lost and fell onto the side of the shelf in the back of the room. Said shelf was, unfortunately, a lot lighter than it looked, and it began to tumble down. It landed with a loud crash, right onto the cracked fishing boat in the corner.

Renee watched it all with a terrified look on her face. "Oh, my goodness! Are you alright, Toby?"

It just so happened that Ozzie picked this exact moment to return to the shop. He didn't get past the doorway before he froze. He looked at the fallen shelf and the crushed fishing boat with mouth agape. Then he saw Toby at the foot of the shelf, and me lying belly-up in his lap. His mouth closed, and he began to form a scowl on his face. He slowly lifted up a shaking finger and pointed it directly at me. "O…out," he said softly. "Out!"

It didn't take me long to realize the smart thing to do. I leapt off of Toby and high-tailed it for the door. Ozzie quickly closed it as soon as he was sure I was outside. I looked back at the shop with a look of disappointment, realizing I blew my best chance at getting warmth and shelter from the snow, which was now falling harder. My first thought was to head for the boat to Toucan Island, but I turned around to see that it had already left. Instead, I saw Raider sitting there. He was biting his lip, looking as if he was about to crack up.

"Awwww shut up, Raider!" I growled, and stomped away from the docks.

For whatever reason, that night under Ben's Tree seemed a lot colder than usual. _Must be the snow,_ I thought. _Must be the snow._


	3. Chapter 3

Despite the fact my hair was frozen on end and my whiskers were as stiff as kindle, I opened my eyes the next morning with a bit of happiness. A wonderful aroma had filled my nose, and for some reason I dreamt about eating fish. As I stood up to investigate the smell, my paw met something wet and squishy. I looked down and saw that a fish lay on the ground, right before my eyes. _What the…?_ I looked around me, but nobody was there. I shrugged it off, convincing myself that I MUST have caught the fish in my sleep, since I'm just that talented. The fish seemed safe, so I quickly chowed down.

Feeling rejuvenated, I stretched out my back and aimlessly walked around. _What to do today?_ It had stopped snowing, but the cold hadn't disappeared. There was a thin layer of powder on the ground, left over from the storm. Maybe I could go see if the boat to Toucan Island is running today. Then again, after that stunt yesterday, I should probably stay away from the docks for awhile. Who knows what Toby would do to me if he saw me, or, even scarier, what his uncle would do. I suddenly glanced over to Toby's house, but thankfully for me, it was deserted.

At least, I was pretty sure it was deserted. I heard the sound of feet crunching down on the frosty grass, and I felt myself jump 10 miles high, thinking it was Toby stepping out of his house. However, Toby didn't appear. Instead, two figures were coming from around the corner. I slowly laid down onto the ground, trying to regain my composure, and watched the two figures carefully. When they got closer, I noticed it was two men. The one in front was practically bouncing down the path, looking really excited for something. He was swinging a toolbox wildly in one hand and an axe in the other, and his spiky blue hair was bobbing up and down with each leap and bound he took. The one behind him was lugging many boards of wood over his shoulders, and he looked like an overloaded donkey with blonde hair and freckles. He cautiously avoided getting to close to the man in front of him.

"L-L-Luke!" the blonde gasped out, sounding very tired. "Can you tone down on the axe-swinging…just a little? I can see my life flashing before my eyes."

The blue-haired man in front of him, who I guessed to be Luke, turned around and began running backwards while looking at the blonde. "Aww, come on, Bo. Aren't you excited at ALL? Pops finally let us out of that workshop after, like, WEEKS!"

Bo coughed. "Actually, it's was only a day…and maybe I'd be more excited if I wasn't carrying all of the wood…I dunno. Just a guess. And why do we even need all this wood, anyway? It's like we have to build a whole house or something! All we have to do is fix a little crack! What're we even going to do with this wood? I'll probably end up carrying all of it back home…again…A-are you listening to me, Luke?"

Luke had turned around, obviously pretending not to hear him. I could now see that he had an abnormally huge grin on his face. He began running ahead of Bo, and he turned off the path and into the grass. He stomped on the ground happily. "Yeah! First snow of the season!" he shouted. He suddenly stopped running and turned around to admire his footprints. "Snow is so awesome! Come on, Bo, we should make snow angels and stuff."

Bo rolled his eyes and continued down the path. Luke sighed heavily and reluctantly followed. Very, very reluctantly, as was apparent by the fact he literally dragged his feet over to Bo. At this point I had taken some interest in these two and, figuring I had nothing else to do, decided to follow.

Luke had eventually gotten ahead of Bo again and continued with his axe-swinging. He got a stern yelling from a fat lady with pink hair and a big nose, and I noticed some peach-haired guy swear at him, but neither seemed to have any effect on his behavior. After following them for awhile, I felt like I had travelled the same path very recently. That's when I realized, I did. Just yesterday, this was the exact path I followed Toby down. I began to grow weary, and hoped it didn't end in the same place, too.

My hopes were crushed, and my pace greatly slowed as I watched the two men walk over to the dock. I froze in place as soon as I saw Ozzie standing there. He was standing behind the fishing boat that was once leaning in the corner of the shop. The front of it had been smashed to pieces, and countless more cracks had appeared in the bottom of it. I flinched at the sight of it, deciding I definitely shouldn't get too close. Ozzie looked up at the two men walking over to him and smiled.

"Oh, you must be the carpenters. Thank you for coming." Ozzie looked down at the boat. "Well, here it is. I need the front patched up, and maybe have it waxed. Doesn't have to be anything fancy. All I really want is for it to float again."

Bo laid the boards he was carrying onto the ground with a happy sigh. While Bo was crouched down, I noticed that Toby was standing right behind him. Part of me was happy to see him, but most of me was way too scared to go over there.

Luke had been staring at the boat with a blank look on his face. Bo got a good look at it, and the two carpenters looked at each other with puzzled looks. Ozzie frowned at this gesture.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked, worried.

Luke looked at Ozzie and quickly shook his head. "No, of course not! We can fix your boat and stuff, no problem." He grinned widely.

Bo stepped forward. "Um, it's just that…well, we were told we only had to fix a little crack in it…" his voice trailed off shyly.

Ozzie sighed heavily. "Yeah, that WAS the case." He sharply glanced over to Toby. I recoiled at this gesture, feeling a pang of guilt. I knew it was my fault that Toby was in trouble. Toby, however, seemed unphased by his uncle. He just smiled and calmly folded his hands.

Ozzie looked back over to the carpenters. "I'm sorry about this. When I placed my order, there really was nothing but a crack in it. I am prepared to pay extra for the inconven-"

"Nah, it's cool!" Luke interrupted, a little too enthusiastically. "I'm sure Pops…uh…Dale, won't mind. If he does, I can just tell him I broke it! He's used to it by now!" He started to laugh.

Ozzie looked at him, surprised. "Oh, well…thank you. That is very kind of you." Obviously not knowing what else to say, he nodded at Toby. "I should get back to the counter. You stay here in case they need help with the design." Before Toby could react, Ozzie went into the shop.

Luke placed his axe and toolbox down with a grin. "See, Bo? I TOLD you to bring the wood, and look! We're gunna need it!" He brushed some hair from out of his face.

Bo grumbled unhappily. "If you're so confident, maybe _you_ should carry it next time…"

Luke looked over to Bo, still grinning. "Huh? Didya say something?"

"I said…we should get to work now."

Luke nodded in agreement, and the two started their work. Toby walked over to a nearby crate and slowly sat upon it. He folded one leg over the other and leaned back, looking up at the sky. He had a smile on his face, and looked so…at peace. It made me feel at peace as well. I sat down, suddenly and strangely relaxed…

…until I felt something breathe down my neck. I turned around as slowly as I could, and there was Raider. He was breathing heavily and was sporting one of the creepiest looks I have ever witnessed in all my nine lives. His razor-sharp teeth were spread across his face, and his brow was raised in such a way that it immediately brought to mind the idiosyncratic look of a rapist. I felt my inner peace fly out of my ears, and I jumped back into the middle of the road, accidentally yelling out a loud squeal. Raider laugh loud and hard at this, and I just huffed angrily at him.

Before it occurred to me what I had just done, I heard a loud "SWEET!" My feet were suddenly off the ground, and I was staring into a pair of yellow eyes. Luke was lifting me high into the air as if I were some sort of play-thing. I tried to wiggle free, feeling absolutely mortified, but Luke refused to put me down.

"Aww, hey, kitty cat! Meow, meow!" he chanted, bobbing me up and down to the point where I felt extreme motion sickness and, not to mention, humiliation. As if that wasn't bad enough, he brought me over to Bo and placed me down into his mat of blonde hair. I tried to keep myself from falling, but luckily Luke was still holding onto me.

"Haha, Bo! You have a cat on your head!" Luke laughed.

Bo moaned. "Come on, Luke, I'm not doing this work all by myself!"

"Okay, okay!" said Luke. I was half-expecting him to lower me back to the ground, so it was an unpleasant surprise when he simply walked away, leaving me on the top of Bo's head. I automatically clung to his head for dear life in the only way I knew how, and Bo let out a small cry of pain. I jumped off as quickly as I could and put space between us, afraid he would try and hurt me in return. Bo, however, just rubbed his head a little and continued to work, and I sighed with relief.

I looked over at Raider, who was now laughing even harder. I gave him my best_ I'm going to kill you_ look before feeling a hand upon my head. I looked up and there was Toby, looking down at me with a smile. All fear that I had of him being angry with me simply vanished when I saw his peaceful face.

"Good morning, kitty. Did you like your fish? I would have stayed to watch you eat it, but I had to go to work…Anyways, nice to see you again."

It took me a while to understand what he was talking about, but then I remembered the fish I found in the morning. It was from _him!_ Maybe I wasn't as awesome as I originally thought myself to be.

A day that was originally going to be boring and cold turned into a relaxing one. As the carpenters were hammering away, I watched Toby fish from off the dock. He caught many fish, and even gave some of the smaller ones to me. By the end of the day, I was stuffed and one very happy "kitty". Raider watched from the shadows for the majority of the time. I stuck my tongue out at him every time, but in all honesty, I did feel a bit guilty.

"Eyy Toby!" shouted Luke. "We're done with the boat!"

Toby looked down at the fish in his hand. "I guess this is the last catch of the day. Hmm…looks like a part of its fin was bitten off." He placed it on the ground in front of me to let me know I could have it. I knew if I tried to eat the fish, I'd probably explode. Instead of eating it, I knew exactly what I should do with it. I picked the fish up carefully and carried it over to the billboard sign in front of the shop. Raider was lying underneath it, trying to fall asleep. I made sure he was watching before I placed the fish in front of him.

"Wait…what's this?" he asked in a confused tone.

"It's yours," I said bluntly. I was going to leave it at that, but Raider was still giving me a strange look. "If I eat another fish, I think I might throw up…which is why I'm giving it to you," I explained.

Raider grinned, a little sheepishly. "Oh, Daisy, you're the most wonderful cat in the world!" I raised my brow at him, and he just laughed. "Sorry, I should learn to stop doing that…"

I walked back over to Toby, who was now in a conversation with Luke.

"This boat looks pretty sweet!" said Luke. "Hey, do you think I could use it sometime? Or I could use it with you or something?"

Toby looked surprised. "It's only a fishing boat, though."

"Yeah? We could fish in it and stuff. It'll be fun! Right?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I guess you just didn't strike me as the fishing type." Luke gave him a confused look, so Toby quickly added "I mean, fishing is about patience and relaxation, and I'm afraid it may seem a little boring to you."

"I never count things out until I try 'em myself!" Luke punched a fist into the air enthusiastically.

Toby laughed lightly. "Well, ok, if you say so."

Ozzie came out of the shop to examine the newly repaired boat. He nodded with approval. "It looks great. Please give Dale my regards." After the two carpenters gathered up their supplies and left, Ozzie turned to Toby and said "You're free to go. See you tomorrow."

Since I lived right next to Toby, I decided to give him permission to walk me home. I took my place under Ben's Tree, as usual, and watched Toby enter his house. I couldn't help but notice a look of hesitation right before he entered, as his eyes switched between me and the door handle. He eventually entered his house slowly and without a word.

The night already felt warmer than the last, and I fell asleep easy.


End file.
